Archive
2008 was a year with many marvellous sporting highlights. The Olympic Summer Games in Beijing and the European Football Championships were two of the major sporting events - and Franke products were very much involved in these major events: In the course of the modernisation of all the EURO venues in Austria and Switzerland, six stadiums were equipped with Franke hygiene solutions in the sanitary rooms and the changing rooms, while professional, superautomatic Franke coffee machines were used in the VIP areas and the Fan Zones in the Olympic Village in Beijing. Wherever sport takes place, Franke products also deliver the highest performance – as shown by the following examples....
I am delighted to welcome Defy Appliances Limited of South Africa as a new member of the Franke family. Defy is by far the largest producer and distributor of domestic kitchen appliances in South Africa and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Defy has large synergies with our activities to date in South Africa and is an excellent fit with our expansion strategy.
The Financial Year 2006 was a successful year for the Franke Group. We were able to integrate all the companies taken over successfully into the Group. Thus, we were able to exploit the resultant synergies whilst continuing to optimise working processes. The course of business developed positively with double-digit growth rates in all the core divisions. Our own organic growth achieved almost +11% and overall growth, including the companies taken over, was +12.8%. Our future growth targets continue to remain ambitious, but the greatest problem at the present time is the massive rise in the price of stainless steel.
The first half year went well for Franke, with organic growth ofmore than 10% in all core activities. The high level of our growth is, among other things, also to be ascribed to the extremely interesting new products in the area of the kitchen hoods. We have focussed strongly on innovation in all of our activities. These will be provided by our newly created competence centres with their approximately 160 development specialists and made market ready.
Franke achieved good results in 2004, and we expect an increase of performance in this year, too. This is, first and foremost, due to our innovations. In the future, we expect very much of innovation in the field of "Air Management". By the acquisition of Faber Group Franke succeeded in integrating the leading supplier of designer hoods with considerable qualities regarding technology and innovation as well as production and management into Franke Group. Our second field of innovation is "Waste Management". Here we see a large and worldwide potential for development, and we took a decisive step by the acquisition of the German Noss Küchentechnik GmbH, that is specialized in waste separation systems.
The year 2003 was a difficult year for the Franke Group, although three of the four business areas managed to achieve better results than in the previous year. The problem was in the Division Franke Foodservice Systems. The weak state of the economy, signs of market saturation, a shift in consumer behaviour and SARS compounded by new strategic objectives pursued by major customers were the main factors here. These had a significant impact on the number of new restaurants opened by restaurant operators. The figures for sales generated with the Division’s largest customers declined by between 40 to over 70%, depending upon the particular region.
In this issue, we would primarily like to show you some innovative Franke developments and new products from all of our business units. In an environment which was and is strongly affected by unfavorable outside factors, such as the Iraq crisis, SARS, or a continued weak economy, one thing remains clear for us: innovations, which are oriented to the requests of our customers and which are often co-designed with them. Innovations, where we value the positive reaction from our customers that helps drive us to better things. Innovations are investments in the future, because only through further developments are we able to create and maintain our competitive advantage while satisfying or even generating enthusiasm among our customers.
Franke has mastered yet another eventful year. Our new strategic alignment in the last year – focussing on our core businesses and the expansion of profitable niche businesses – was just as important as our business success in 2002. The two acquisitions that were carried out – which were large and important acquisitions for Franke – confirm this alignment. Both companies, W & G Sissons Ltd. in England, and the Bremer Kaffeemaschinen AG in Germany, will not only contribute to the sustained growth of the group, but will also bring genuine gains for our customers. The seeking out and taking advantage of opportunities, while also ensuring the best possible implementation, are challenges that kept us very busy during the past year.
2001 proved to be a difficult year after all. The measures implemented during the first quarter took effect relatively fast, and both the third and fourth quarters 2001 developed better than the first six months.